Film trim bin

ABSTRACT

A film trim bin having an upright center support column and a rotary film bin rotatable on the column having an annular arrangement of spring clamps each useful for hanging a plurality of film strips, an annular illuminated window below the spring clamps for facilitating viewing the film strips through an adjustable magnifying glass mounted outwardly of the annular window and a multiple bag container for containing the lower ends of the film strips.

United States Patent 119i Smith I 3,863,370 'Feb.'4, 1975 FILM TRIM BINNorval F. Smith, Pomfret Center, Conn.

Inventor:

Assignee: The Communicators, Inc., Pomfret Center, Conn.

Filed: June 7, 1973 Appl. No.: 367,977

U.S. Cl. 40 /-106.l, 40/70 A [51] Int. Cl. ..,G09f 13/10' Field ofSearch 40/63 A, 64 A, 70A, 77, 40/l06.1,124,125 H, 130 R, 131 R, 132A;232/432, 43.3; 248/DIG. 7; 312/211;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1905 Phillips et al.40/124 X 4/1953 Grimsley 248/129 8/1965 Schleisner-Meyer 40/106.1

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,072,838 9/1954 France 40/l06.l

138,619 3/1930 Switzerland..... 1,439,255 4/1965 France 411/77 PrimaryExaminerRobert W. Michell Assistant Examiner-Nance Y. Hum

Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Prutzman, Hayes, Kalb & Chilton 57 ABSTRACT Afilm trim bin having an upright center support column and a rotary filmbin rotatable onthe column having an annular arrangement of springclamps each useful for hanging a plurality of film strips, an annularilluminated window below the spring clamps for facilitating viewing thefilm strips through an adjustable magnifying glass mounted outwardly ofthe annular window and a multiple bag container for containing the lowerends of the film strips.

11 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures FILM TRIM B1N BRlEF SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION The present invention relates generally to film editingapparatus and more particularly to a new and improved film trim bin forfacilitating storing and assembling film H strips or trims to form adesired film sequence.

It is a primary aim of the present invention to provide a new andimproved film trim-bin which substantially simplifies the storage,identification and assembling of film strips in the production ofadesired film sequence.

It is another aim of the present invention to provide a new and improvedfilm trim bin having greater capacity and flexibility in storing filmstripsor trims.

It is another aim of the present invention to provide a new and improvedfilm trim bin which greatly simplifies the search and identification ofthe stored film strips and which thereby greatly facilitatesorganization and assembly of the film strips in a desired order.

It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a new andimproved film trim bin for hanging film trims which simplifies hangingand removing the film trims without film damage and which provides readyaccess to each and every film trim hung in the trim bin. It is anotheraim of the present invention to provide a new and improved film trim binof the type described which is adjustable for greatest comfort of thetrim bin operator and which can be used by one or more operators andwith the operators either in a'sitting or standing position as desired.

It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a new andimproved film trim bin of the type described having a compact andeconomical design and which occupies a minimum amount of floor space.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more indetail hereinafter.

A better understanding of the invention will be obtained from thefollowing detailed description and the accompany drawing of anillustrative application of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWlNG ln the Drawing: FIG. 1 is an isometricview ofa film t rim bin incorporating an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevation section view, partly broken away andpartly in section, of the film trim bin; FIG. 3 is an enlarged partialelevation section view, partly broken away and partly in section,showing a film trim clamp of the film trim bin; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial elevation section view, partly broken awayand partly in section, of an upstanding center column of the film trimbin.

DESCRlPTlON OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT spectively. The lower tube 21extends upwardly from the base 14 and the upper tube 20 is mounted to bevertically adjustable within the lower tube 21 to permit adjustment ofthe height of the trim bin for maximum operator comfort and such thatone or more operators can use the trim bin while either in a standing orsitting position. The upper tube 20 is adapted to be raised or loweredto the desired position and then locked in position by a suitable lockassembly 24 shown having an inner split locking collar 26 and an outerknurled nut 27 threaded onto the upper end of the lower tube 2]. Thecollar 26 and nut 27 have cooperating tapered surfaces for wedging thecollar against the upper tube 20 and thereby clamp the tube in position.A collar 28 is mounted on the lower end of the upper tube 20 to assistin guidingthe upper tube 20 within the lower tube 21 and to provide anupper limit stop for the tube 20.

A rotary film bin 30 is' mounted on the upper tube 20 to be manuallyangularly indexed or shifted about the vertical axis of the centercolumn 12. The rotary film bin 30 comprises a center support sleeve orbearing 32 rotatably mounted on the tube 20 and vertically supportedthereon by a thrust bearing collar 34 fixed to the tube 20. The thrustbearing collar 34 also provides a lower limit stop for the heightadjustment of the tube 20. A multiple segment container subassembly 38is mounted on the lower end of the support sleeve 32 and an uppercarousel subassembly 40 is mounted on the upper end of the supportsleeve 32. The film container subassembly 38 comprises a coaxialwheel-like support frame 41 with a center hub 42 fixed to the'sleeve 32,

an outer ring 44 and three equiangularly spaced radial spokes 46extending between the hub 42 and ring 44 and dividing the container intothree separate segments for receiving and supporting three separatecloth container bags 50. The container bags 50 are preferably made of asoft and pliant material and are mounted to depend from thethree frameopenings by rolling the upper edges of the bags over the spokes 46 andring 44 and connecting them to suitable pins 52 on the support frame forwhich purpose properly spaced grommets 54 are provided around the upperedge of each bag.

The upper carousel subassembly 40 comprises a circular base plate'having a hub 62 fixed to the sleeve 32, a lower plastic ring 64 securedaround the perimeter of the circular base plate 60, an upper coaxialplastic ring 66 and an intermediate generally cylindrical and preferablytranslucent plexiglas window 68. The circular edges of the window 68 areaffixed within opposed annular slots in the coaxial rings 64, 66 toprovide an integral annular assembly. A circular nonrotatable coverplate 70 has a hub 72 mounted on the upper end of the tube 20, and apair of electrical lamp sockets 74 are'mounted to depend from the coverplate 70 for mounting suitable lamps 76 within the carousel subassembly40 for illuminating the annular window 68. An On-Off light switch 78 ismounted on the cover plate 70 and electric power is supplied to thelamps 76 via the switch 78 by a suitable electric power cord 80 (FIG. 4)which extends upwardly-through the center column 12. The base plate 60of the carousel 40 has a plurality of angularly spaced apertures 82 foruse in installing and replacing the lamps 76 and to provide for downwardillumination from the lamps 76 into the bags 50 for facilitatinginspecting the contents of the bags 50. Also, the upper ring 66 of thecarousel 40 has a lower inner annular lip 86 underlying the peripheralspring clamps spring clamp). The spring clamps 100 ring 66 are spacedsufficiently to permit air to flow upwardly by convection through thelower base plate openings 82 and between the cover plate 70 and upperring 66 for internal cooling of the carousel 40.

A magnifying glass 90 is mounted by a suitable gooseneck 92 and balljoint 94 on the upper end of the column 12 such that the magnifyingglass can be manually positioned as desired generally radially outwardlyof the window 68 and the film trims hung on the rotary film bin can bereadily viewed and indentified by looking at the film trims through themagnifying glass 90 and using-the window 68 as an illuminated backgroundfor the film trims. The gooseneck 92 is preferably suitably mounted onthe upper end of the column 12 such that the magnifying glass 90 may beeasily positioned at any angular-position around the column 12.

An annular arrangement of a plurality of film trim spring clamps orhangers 100 (of which there are thirty-two in the shown embodiment 32)are equiangularly spaced around'the upper ring 66 of the carousel 40. Asbest seen in FIG. 3, each film trim spring clamp 100 comprises anelongated multiple coil spring (with approximately 28 coils in the shownembodiment) having'engaging coils such that a film trim 102 may bereadily inserted between adjacent coils to-clamp the film trim in place.The inner end of each spring clamp 100 is suitably secured within aconforming radial opening 103 in the upper ring 66 such that eachelongated spring clamp extends generally radially outwa'rdly from thering 66.'A numeral identification cap or button 104 is threaded into theouter end of each spring clamp 100 and the buttons 104 are numbered insequence to facilitate identification of the film trims and storing thefilm trims in the desired sequence. The 100 are designed so that thespring coil clamping forces permit a number of overlapping film trims tobe supported along each side of the spring clamp and to the underside ofthe spring clamp as desired and yet to permit each film trim to beindividually attached and removed without releasing the remaining filmtrims supported on the same clamp. Each spring clamp 100 is thereforeuseful for hanging a number of film trims and in the desired sequence byfollowing an established system (e.g. outer film trims to precede innerfilm trims, and film trims on theleft side of a spring clamp to precedethose on the right side of the are also capable of holding films ofdifferent sizes and are preferably made ofa suitable nonmagneticmaterial to be used for attaching magnetic sound tracks strips alongwith film trims without affecting the magnetic recording.

In the preferred manner of use, the film trim bin is employedwith asuitable film editing machine and V such that as each separate filmstrip or trim is severed from the raw movie film being edited (which isusually a a workingprint), the film strip or trim is then hung on thefilm trim bin 10 with the lead end of the film trim attached to adesired clamp spring 100 for placing the film trims in the desired orderfor subsequent assembly.

The lower ends of the film trims over approximately 4 feet long are heldwithin the bag 50 below the supporting clamp 100. The film strips arethereby mounted on the rotary film bin and preferably such that the filmtrims are mounted in the sequence-in which they are to be subsequentlyused when assembling the film strips to 1 rinth light seal. However, thecover plate 70 and upper produce a desired film sequence. Also, the filmbags 50 provide for segregating the film trims as desired and tominimize knotting, etc., and are preferably differently colored toassist in any such film segregation.

Of course, the operator may not know when initially severing-and hanginga film trim the exact relative position of the film trim in the desiredmovie sequence. However, with the present invention, the film trims canbe easily searched and each film trim can be readily identified bylooking through the magnifying glass 90 and replaced on the rotary filmbin to provide the desired organization. Also, as previously explained,a number of the film trims may be supported from a single spring clampto provide greater flexibility in mounting the film trims in the desiredorder. Thus, with only 32 spring clamps as shown, a substantiallygreater number of film trims may be readily hung in the bin in thedesired sequence.

During the assembling process, it may only be necessary to remove thefilm trims from the rotary film bin in the same sequence they aremounted on the bin. Also, the film trims may be readily identifiedbefore assembling merely by viewing the individual film trims throughthe magnifying glass and using the carousel window 68 as an illuminatedbackground for viewing the film trims.

A rewinding mechanism may be mounted on the carousel cover 70 as shownin FIG. 1 to permit winding the film trims in the selected order onto areel (not shown), or alternatively other equipment (not shown) may beused for that purpose, it being seen that the film trim bin 10 hasprimary utility in facilitating organizing the film trims in the desiredorder, identifying the film trims and assembling the film trims in' adesiredorder for producing a desired film sequence.

As well be apparent to persons skilled in the art, variousmodifications, adaptations and variations of the foregoing specificdisclosure can be made without departing from the teachings of thepresent invention.

I claim:

l. A film trim bin for mounting film trims thereon comprising a rotaryfilm bin and a rotary film bin support for rotatably mounting the rotaryfilm bin about a generally upright axis, the rotary film bin comprisingannular hanger means for hanging a plurality of film trims angularlyspaced about the axis of the rotary film bin and with the film trimsdepending therefrom and whereby the rotary film bin may be rotated formounting and removing the film trims in a desired sequence, the rotaryfilm bin further comprising annular container means below the hangermeans and means connecting the container means to the hanger means forrotation therewith for containing the lower ends of the depending filmtrims and for rotating them with the annular hanger means to accommodatethe mounting and removal of the film trims.

2. A film trim bin according to claim '1 wherein the film trim hangermeans comprises 'a plurality of coil spring clamps angularly spacedabout the axis of the rotary film bin.

3. A film trim bin according to claim 2 wherein each coil spring clamphas a plurality of engaging coils for clamping a plurality of film trimstherebetween.

4. A film trim bin according to claim 1 wherein the for facilitatingviewing the film trims hanging on the rotary film bin.

5. A film trim bin according to claim 4 wherein the film trim bincomprises a magnifying glass mountedon the rotary film bin support andpositioned radially outwardly of the background lighting means andannular hanger means for viewing the film trims hanging on the rotaryfilm bin.

6. A film trim bin according to claim 1 wherein the container meanscomprises a plurality of annularly arranged separate container segmentsfor segregating the film trims hanging on the rotary film bin.

7. The film trim bin according to claim 6 wherein the container meanscomprises a support frame having an annular ring and a-plurality ofradial spokes defining a plurality of separate openings, and a containerbag in each opening supported by and depending from the outer ring andspokes.

8. A film trim bin for mounting film trims thereon comprising a rotaryfilm bin, a rotary film bin support for rotatably mounting the rotaryfilm bin for rotation about a generally upright axis, the rotary filmbin comprising generally annular illuminating window means, annular filmtrim hanger means above the generally annular illuminating window meansfor hanging a plurality of film trims angularly spaced about the rotaryfilm bin axis and in front of the generally annular illuminating windowmeans to be viewed with the window means providing an illuminatedbackground, the rotary film bin further comprising annular containermeans below the hanger means and means connecting the container means tothe hanger means for rotation therewith for containing the lower ends ofthe depending film trims and for rotating them with the annular hangermeans to accommodate the mounting and removal of the film trims.

9. A film trim bin according to claim 8 wherein the generally annularilluminating window means comprises a generally annular translucentwindow and lamp means mounted within the generally annular window forilluminating the window for facilitating viewing the film trims.

10. A film trim bin according to claim 8 wherein the rotary film binsupport comprises an upright center column supporting the rotary filmbin coaxially thereon.

11. A filmtrim bin according to claim 10 further comprising a magnifyingglass and a magnifying glass support mounted on the upper end of thecenter column and supporting the magnifying glass generally radiallyoutwardly of the annular window means to facilitate viewing the filmtrims hanging in front of the illuminated window means.

1. A film trim bin for mounting film trims thereon comprising a rotaryfilm bin and a rotary film bin support for rotatably mounting the rotaryfilm bin about a generally upright axis, the rotary film bin comprisingannular hanger means for hanging a plurality of film trims angularlyspaced about the axis of the rotary film bin and with the film trimsdepending therefrom and whereby the rotary film bin may be rotated formounting and removing the film trims in a desired sequence, the rotaryfilm bin further comprising annular container means below the hangermeans and means connecting the container means to the hanger means forrotation therewith for containing the lower ends of the depending filmtrims and for rotating them with the annular hanger means to accommodatethe mounting and removal of the film trims.
 2. A film trim bin accordingto claim 1 wherein the film trim hanger means comprises a plurality ofcoil spring clamps angularly spaced about the axis of the rotary filmbin.
 3. A film trim bin according to claim 2 wherein each coil springclamp has a plurality of engaging coils for clamping a plurality of filmtrims therebetween.
 4. A film trim bin according to claim 1 wherein thefilm trim bin comprises background lighting means adjacent to, below andwithin the annular hanger means for facilitating viewing the film trimshanging on the rotary film bin.
 5. A film trim bin according to claim 4wherein the film trim bin comprises a magnifying glass mounted on therotary film bin support and positioned radially outwardly of thebackground lighting means and annular hanger means for viewing the filmtrims hanging on the rotary film bin.
 6. A film trim bin according toclaim 1 wherein the container means comprises a plurality of annularlyarranged separate container segments for segregating the film trimshanging on the rotary film bin.
 7. The film trim bin according to claim6 wherein the container means comprises a support frame having anannular ring and a plurality of radial spokes defining a plurality ofseparate openings, and a container bag in each opening supported by anddepending from the outer ring and spokes.
 8. A film trim bin formounting film trims thereon comprising a rotary film bin, a rotary filmbin support for rotatably mounting the rotary film bin for rotationabout a generally upright axis, the rotary film bin comprising generallyannular illuminating window means, annular film trim hanger means abovethe geNerally annular illuminating window means for hanging a pluralityof film trims angularly spaced about the rotary film bin axis and infront of the generally annular illuminating window means to be viewedwith the window means providing an illuminated background, the rotaryfilm bin further comprising annular container means below the hangermeans and means connecting the container means to the hanger means forrotation therewith for containing the lower ends of the depending filmtrims and for rotating them with the annular hanger means to accommodatethe mounting and removal of the film trims.
 9. A film trim bin accordingto claim 8 wherein the generally annular illuminating window meanscomprises a generally annular translucent window and lamp means mountedwithin the generally annular window for illuminating the window forfacilitating viewing the film trims.
 10. A film trim bin according toclaim 8 wherein the rotary film bin support comprises an upright centercolumn supporting the rotary film bin coaxially thereon.
 11. A film trimbin according to claim 10 further comprising a magnifying glass and amagnifying glass support mounted on the upper end of the center columnand supporting the magnifying glass generally radially outwardly of theannular window means to facilitate viewing the film trims hanging infront of the illuminated window means.